Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Really big dog, man,” he repeated.
I didn’t know if he was screwing with me or not.
Lang and I played Spades with his mother, Duke, her sisters, and some other family members for a couple of hours. Etta had taught me how to play when Lang first started bringing me over, and while the game itself was not that hard, the strategy was what took time to master. I was nowhere near his mother’s level, but I loved it whenever she complimented me.
When Selah told Duke they had to be on their way, I could tell he wanted to stay. Perhaps he didn’t have this same kind of neighborhood where people walked over to say hello and Etta told them to make themselves a plate of food. She had people in and out all day long, bringing her lots of homemade goodies, bread, pie, and muffins. Her house was one of the focal points of the neighborhood. I didn’t know if Duke was part of a close community at home. Maybe he had lots of friends there, or maybe he didn’t. Perhaps that was a piece of his old life he missed. Regardless, he lingered on the covered porch after the rest of his family said their goodbyes, leaning on one of the redbrick columns.
I was out there, sitting on the swing with Etta, loving the fans Lang had paid to put in the year before.
“This house was always beautiful,” Duke mused, staring at Etta.
“Yes, it is.” She nodded. “But you know, it’s not the building; it’s the love inside.”
“Yes,” he assented, and took a step forward, as though to walk over to her, but hesitated.
“They’re waiting on you at the gate,” she told him, and waved.
I saw Selah wave back.
He nodded. “Thank you again for your hospitality. It was so kind of you to pack up food to take with us. I promise to send all the Tupperware back.”
“Oh no,” she said, using the fan in her left hand and taking hold of mine with her right. “I don’t expect anything back.”
After a moment he said, “Etta, I—”
“Have a great trip,” I called over. “Drive safely now.”
He looked from her, to me, back to her, smiled, and left.
“I think he was havin’ second thoughts about leavin’,” I told Etta as I watched Duke jog over to the large SUV his family had already loaded into.
“No,” she said, moving her fan so she was putting air on both of us. “He had a twinge of nostalgia, is all. Happens to the best of us. We long for a past that never actually existed.”
“Not me. I much prefer the here and now where your son seems to kind of like me.”
She chuckled. “Please. My son has been lovin’ on you since the start, Delroy McCabe. I have never seen him want to be around anyone else more.”
That was very nice to hear.
“And I couldn’t be happier. I like having another son.”
And that was even better.
We had to go to get clothes from my place, and on the way there, he asked me why I was always so on top of his calendar. “More specifically, why were you keeping such a keen eye on all of my dates?”
“You know why,” I replied, glancing out the window, thankful I was in a nice cool car instead of outside, walking down streets covered in hot pavement.
“No. Tell me.”
Turning to look at him, I smiled. “The truth is, I always wanted to make sure I didn’t have any plans when and if yours went sideways. I wanted to be there to fill in and spend time with you.”
I was surprised when he pulled over, unclipped his seat belt, and leaned sideways to first take my face in his hands, and then kiss me.
My body heated so fast, and I whimpered into his mouth, unable to stifle the sound.
“Good noise,” he teased, smiling against my lips before he kissed me again, harder, with tongue and teeth.
“I…could you drive to my crappy apartment, please,” I pleaded, barely getting the words out when he broke the kiss to stare into my eyes. “There’s a bed there.”
“I’m aware,” he rumbled.
My cock had thickened with his attention and closeness, and when he began stroking me through my pants, I had trouble sitting still. “We’re really close and—”
“I want you to know,” he said, his hand sliding from my dick to my balls and then under my ass, “that there won’t be any more dates, not for either of us.”
“I do not date,” I whispered, moving on the fingers sliding over my crease.
His chuckle was deep and husky, and I felt it sparking over my skin, like being outside right before a storm. “Well, you won’t be doing anything with anyone but me going forward, so the only dates you have to worry about will be our alternating ideas of fun.”